Grit. Determination. Perseverance.

Isn’t it incredible how quickly 18 years can pass? Sure, there are those days that seem to drag on forever and you wonder how you’ll ever make it. Other days fly by in a rush of excitement as you see how you are making a difference in this world. And then, one day you look up and ask yourself, “Has it really been 18 years since I started this journey?”

18 years ago the Military Child Education Coalition was a brand new organization. The MCEC was just starting out with a desire to celebrate and advocate for military children and their families. We worked hard every day focusing our efforts to produce the biggest impact.

The MCEC enjoys being in the unique position to be in contact with both the “learner” and the “educators”. I’m not referring to those labels in the classic sense, instead let’s re-think the terms.

The Learning side is comprised of the military students, their families, and the professionals that serve them. Those that are seeking solutions to their challenges.

The Educators which are those key people that can teach, share, and move us towards positive change. Those people that are in the position to illuminate a better way and inspire us to work for that goal.

How do we bring both sides together? Implementing a National Training Seminar is an obvious solution. This is an effective way to again focus our efforts to produce the biggest impact. It allows for everyone involved in a military child’s life to convene and share best practices.

This year we will celebrate our 18th Annual National Training Seminar, June 27th-29th. Once again the MCEC staff has worked diligently to create a lineup of the most inspiring and influential speakers to address our audience.

If you’ve attended in the past, you know this this seminar is powerful and energizing. If you’ve never attended, this is the year to join us! We have amazing speakers, lectures, and classes scheduled during the three-day event.

There are way too many speakers in our showcase for me to list them all but I’ll name a few to pique your interest: